The Aeronaut's Windlass

The Cinder Spires, Book 1

De: Jim Butcher

Narrado por: Euan Morton

Jim Butcher, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Dresden Files and the Codex Alera novels, conjures up a new series set in a fantastic world of noble families, steam-powered technology, and magic-wielding warriors. . . .

Since time immemorial, the Spires have sheltered humanity. Within their halls, the ruling aristocratic houses develop scientific marvels, foster trade alliances, and maintain fleets of airships to keep the peace.

Captain Grimm commands the merchant ship Predator. Loyal to Spire Albion, he has taken their side in the cold war with Spire Aurora, disrupting the enemy’s shipping lines by attacking their cargo vessels. But when the Predator is damaged in combat, Grimm joins a team of Albion agents on a vital mission in exchange for fully restoring his ship.

And as Grimm undertakes this task, he learns that the conflict between the Spires is merely a premonition of things to come. Humanity’s ancient enemy, silent for more than ten thousand years, has begun to stir once more. And death will follow in its wake. . . .

Reseñas de la Crítica

“So Jim Butcher is writing futuristic dystopian steampunk? You had me at Jim Butcher, actually. But the rest is cool too....Great action scenes, a fascinating world, and characters of a sort I've never seen before. Yup. This is everything I’ve come to expect from Jim Butcher, but in a delightful new flavor.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss

“Wow. Just wow. Beware fellow readers, herein lies adventure that will keep you from food or rest…It is as if Jules Verne, H. Rider Haggard, Patrick O’Brien and...well, Jim Butcher all got together and wrote a book. Steampunk done very, very right. Butcher proves yet again that he is an amazing storyteller.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs

“This is Jim Butcher at his best, drawing a fully realized, richly detailed, and downright fun literary world where fearless aeronauts ride the aether, brilliant wizards struggle with doorknobs, and a thirty-pound feline warrior keeps a pet human named Little Mouse. It’s steampunk meets magic with a dose of sci-fi for seasoning. Buy it and read it. You’ll be glad you did.”—New York Times bestselling author David Weber

“Butcher opens the imaginative Cinder Spires series with this sweeping fantastical epic...[It's] a fascinating, adventurous, and intricate story. Butcher brings a fresh and exciting perspective to secondary-world steampunk, giving the reader a thrilling ride.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Butcher, the bestselling author of the Dresden Files, now launches the Cinder Spires, a new epic fantasy, steampunk hybrid series that has shades of both Naomi Novik and Cherie Priest...With shifting points of view, short chapters, fast-paced action, and awesome battle scenes, the large cast of characters, elaborate world building, and intricate plot are revealed quickly and realized fully. It all reminds readers of when they first fell for Harry Dresden.”—Booklist (starred review)

“[Butcher] blends familiar steampunk and fantasy elements (airships, wizardry, and heroes from a monarch’s guard) in a fresh and wonderful way that results in a fantastic ride. This should well satisfy fans of fantasy, sf, or their stepchild steampunk.”—Library Journal (starred review)

The Cats

While there was slow spots as a whole the stroy was very well written. Butcher captures the personality of the cats so well and each character is unique to themselves.
im excited for the next book in the series.

**Reviews courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy**

If I could give this book a six bat rating I would. THE AERONAUT'S WINDLASS more than deserves it. Jim Butcher's Dresden Files are what first got me interested in Urban Fantasy, but I haven't yet tried Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series, so THE AERONAUT'S WINDLASS is the first book of Butcher's besides the Dresden Files that I've read. And at every page I was reminded why Jim Butcher is a grand master in his field.

The first thing about THE AERONAUT'S WINDLASS that stood out to me was how well Butcher handled multiple POV characters. In the past year especially, I've gotten really really tired of authors who ought to know better switching POVs just to create forced suspense (i.e. having one character get jumped in an ally and then switching to the other POV character, leaving you wondering if the first one will get out of the horrible situation.) Jim Butcher never uses that cheap trick in the whole 640 page book, because he builds suspense with his impressive storytelling.

The next thing is that The Cinder Spires series has a rich beautiful world, but Jim Butcher never felt the need to do any info dumping. He feeds us just the right amount of information to allow us to understand the world, while still wondering about the history of the world. And I'm already anxious for the next book so I can learn more about the world.

I could continue to go on about Jim Butcher's writing craft, but I should probably get to the actual review of the story. Not only has Jim Butcher created an amazing world, but he's filled it with great characters, and with 640 pages he's given us plenty of time to get to know them and love them. However, a great world and lifelike characters don't make novel, so Jim Butcher polishes it all off with great storytelling. The Cinder Spires series takes place in a world where everyone lives on spires because the ground is covered in dangerous, deadly animals. This means the only way of safely getting from one spire to another is through the air. And this is where the series truly shines. They travel through the air on airships, but they aren't your typical steampunk blimps, but wooden or copper-clad steel boats. The reason that works are the magical crystals that power them. Huge crystals are used to power the ships and keep them afloat, while an ethersilk web is cast around the ship to move the ship along the etheric currents. In addition to the huge crystals, smaller ones are used to power cannons and hand weapons. From there Jim Butcher has created a whole society that is based around the production and use of these crystals and even people, etherealists, who have a rather unique relationship with the crystals themselves.

Everything I've said so far is great, but what really made me love this book was Rowl. He's one of the POV characters, and he's a cat. I'm guessing a lot of people we'll be split on whether they love the talking cats or hate them. But I love any well written book with talking animals, so that was just the icing on the cake for me.

THE AERONAUT'S WINDLASS is an excellent book, and I highly recommend it, and now I don't know what I want to see more the next Dresden book or the next Cinder Spires book.

A 'rockin' world of intrigue and action

The reader jumps right into soaring skies and floating worlds. I felt like I couldn't read fast enough so I read AND listened when I couldn't read. Jim Butcher is a wonderful storyteller. As a Dresden fanatic, I now have two series to look forward to. Gotta run....want to read and savor it the second time though.

Outstanding!

In the spirit of full disclosure, I was convinced that I would not enjoy this book as much as I do the Dresden Files. I was just flat out WRONG and thrilled to be incorrect. I throughly enjoyed the world building, fell in love with the characters and somehow a 20 hour long book, ended way too quickly. If you are hesitating because you are also a Dresden fan (or freak like myself), buy this book. I assure you, you will be happy you did.

Sweet swashbuckling steampunk!

As someone who finds Dresden fair to middling, this was a refreshing listen.
It’s a fantastic tale of talking cats. Oh, and also swashbuckling humans, creepy spiders and wizards, and Master and Commander-style airship battles. But, really, the cats almost steal the show.
Also, the narrator’s ability to differentiate voices was so phenomenal, I almost felt like I should take a star from the story in deference to his greatness. It takes the first third to set the stage and introduce the rather large and uniquely wonderful cast, but I loved every second.

Unfortunately, there’s still no book 2 on Audible. So, for your next steampunk fix, I recommend:
⚙️Want more spiders and dystopian horror vibe. Try Steamborn (it’s more YA, but on the plus side has several books ready to go in Audible).
⚙️Want to double down on the YA, and lean way into the anime vibe? Go with Romulus Buckle (a bit too exaggerated and comic for me, but okay as a sale purchase).